Paulownia Spring
by jackkel dragon
Summary: An AU where Yoshiki is expelled from Kisaragi Academy. Pressured by his sister to continue attending school, he moves to an apartment near Paulownia Academy for his second year of senior high. He receives the part-time "job" of taking notes for Naho while she skips classes to investigate a disappearing persons case, but it isn't long before he gets involved with the case as well...
1. Chapter 1

I tried not to notice how light my bag was as the train came into the station and the call to exit came over the intercom. I stepped onto the platform and pulled out the note I had made regarding the apartment building that would be my new home. I hoped the directions my sister made for me would take me to the right place and started walking.

As I made my way down the streets I passed some people about my age that were standing outside a restaurant gossiping with each other. I paused to listen in on what they had to say. With school starting tomorrow, it was possible these would be my classmates.

They stopped talking when they noticed I was listening in on them. One of them whispered something to the others and they stared at me until I got frustrated and walked away. I already give off the wrong impression here, apparently. Some things never change.

The sun was starting to set when I got to the place my directions told me to go. After double-checking the address I texted my sister a "thank you" and walked up to the door labeled with the landlord's number. Setting down my bag to rest my arms, I knocked on the door.

After a moment of waiting, I heard movement behind the door and a middle-aged man opened the door for me. "Ah, you must be Kishinuma!" He smiled easily at me, making me turn my head away. Figures that the first nice person I'd meet here would be the one I expected to be a jerk.

Realizing I never confirmed his statement, I nodded. "Yeah. That's me."

The man extended his hand. "I'm Takeshi Saito. You can just call me Takeshi, though. No one else bothers with honorifics with me anyway."

I hesitantly shook his hand. I wasn't so sure of referring to my landlord by his given name in our first meeting. "I'll probably stick to Saito for now. Is there anything I have to sign or fill out?"

Saito shook his head. "We already handled all that stuff through email. Digital signature and stuff like that. Very fancy and modern." He handed me a key. "Your room is on the second floor, room nine. I'll show you how to get there."

I picked up my bag and followed him up a stairwell and down a walkway. He indicated a door that indeed had the number 9 printed on the tag. I tried the key on it and opened the door.

Looking inside the apartment revealed that it was a lot more spacious than I was led to believe. I walked in and saw that there was a separate kitchen area, a decently sized bathroom, and two bedrooms behind the living area.

I turned to Saito and pointed at the second bedroom. "This place looks a lot better than what I'm paying for rent. Is this the right apartment?"

Saito chuckled. "Sure is! You see, I've had a hard time getting anyone to take this room, so I lowered the price to attract more attention."

I took another look around. Why would a nice place like this have no takers? "What happened here?"

Rolling his eyes, Saito made a gesture with his hand to indicate craziness. "Apparently some people think it's haunted because someone went missing from here years ago." He gave me a knowing glance. "You're not superstitious too, are you?"

I sighed. "My wallet doesn't allow for superstition. This is the best place I could find on such short notice." I dropped my bag in the entryway and waved at Saito. "Thanks for showing me in."

He nodded. "Anytime! I'll send you an email reminder when your rent's due. Enjoy!"

Saito walked back down the walkway and I shut the door. I unpacked the things I brought with me and tried to straighten out the new uniform I had to buy for my new school. Starting tomorrow, I'd be a second year at Paulownia Academy High School.

After everything was put away, I made a list of food and other supplies I'd need to buy after school tomorrow and put it near my school bag. Still tired from the long train ride, I texted Miki and Satoshi that I had made it to my new place safely and went to sleep.

—

I kept my gaze on the ground as I walked to school the next day. It was the start of a new term so I wouldn't get too many questions about why I had to transfer schools for my second year of Senior High, but I didn't really want to draw too much attention to myself anyway.

I adjusted the new school jacket a bit as I walked, noting how different it was from the gakuran jacket I wore at Kisaragi. I couldn't bring myself to wear the school tie despite being told it was part of the uniform. I hoped no one would call me out on that, but since I didn't know how strict the school was on uniform I brought it along in my bag.

A sudden cry of pain from behind me made me turn to see what happened. A boy wearing the same uniform as I was lying on the ground clutching his chest as a girl huffed and stormed away.

I briefly considered just turning and going on my way. It wasn't my problem, after all. Maybe the kid deserved to be knocked down. I guess part of Satoshi had rubbed off on me, though. I sighed and walked over to the boy and offered a hand.

"Girl troubles?"

The boy laughed. "My Sayaka is a stubborn one. Don't worry about me."

He took my hand and stood up. He picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder before looking me over. "You new around here? I don't remember seeing you last term."

"I just transfered here for this term." I hesitated, then added. "I'm Kishinuma. What's your name?"

"Inumaru." The boy offered his hand for a handshake. "Always fun to meet a new classmate!"

I shook his hand reluctantly and gestured to the road. "We should get going. It's only the first day, but we shouldn't be late."

Inumaru nodded. "Yeah, I heard this one teacher is really strict on tardiness and absences. I hope we don't get him for our homeroom teacher."

We walked the rest of the way to school together. I wasn't really interested in the smalltalk Inumaru insisted on, but I gave him halfhearted responses when I was paying attention.

When we got to school and checked the class rosters it turned out both of us were in the same homeroom. Inumaru winked at me. "Let's get seats right next to each other! That way we can share notes during class."

I sighed and accepted that Inumaru wouldn't let me avoid him now. I started hoping this Sayaka girl wasn't justified in hitting him, or else I'd be in for a long year.

While settling in at our new classroom, I noticed that Inumaru was paying more attention to the fact that Sayaka was in the same class as us than what the teacher was saying. I couldn't blame him though… it was all just a bunch of start of the year information that I could probably sleep through and still be fine. With that thought, I laid my head down on my desk and closed my eyes.

—

I woke with a start as someone poked me. I looked up, expecting Inumaru to be pestering me. However, the owner of the offending finger was the bespecticled girl sitting in front of me.

"You're the transfer student, right? Get up there!"

I grumbled as I remembered that I'd be presented to the class, being the new student and all. I stood up and walked to the front of the room and endured the teacher introducing me to the class. Once it was over, I headed back to my seat. I tried to ignore the disapproving glare from the girl with the glasses when I walked back to my seat. I slumped in my desk when I reached it.

The rest of the first day introduction material went by quickly and we were dismissed early. Inumaru turned to me as soon as the teacher left the room.

"Hey, come with me for a minute."

I watched him jump out of his seat and race after the Sayaka girl. I sighed and picked up my bag before following him out of the room.

We caught up to Sayaka and the girl who had poked me in the hallway. Inumaru smiled and called out to them.

"Wait, my Sayaka! Don't you want to walk home with me?"

The two girls turned around and glared at us. I could feel the annoyance radiating from them and wanted to back away. But Inumaru didn't seem fazed at all and kept walking towards them until Sayaka shoved him away.

"I'm not 'your' Sayaka! And I'm walking home with Naho today!"

Inumaru grinned. "Are you sure? Saenoki could walk home with Kishinuma instead!"

I stared at him. He only brought me along so he could get Sayaka alone, didn't he? "Hold on, I didn't agree to this…"

Inumaru gave me a strained smile. "Come on, you can't have anything against walking a girl home, can you?"

"Don't pester the transfer student with your schemes, Inumaru." The girl with the glasses sighed. What was her name?… Naho… Saenoki? I stopped trying to piece together her name when she turned to examine me. "Maybe I will walk home with the transfer student, just to keep him out of trouble."

Sayaka's eyes went wide and she clung to Saenoki's sleeve. "B-but Naho, who will walk me to my recording session?!"

Inumaru smiled and tilted his head at Sayaka. "I can!"

Sayaka hid behind Saenoki and glared at Inumaru. "Nevermind, I'll just walk alone!"

Inumaru shrugged. "I'd prefer not to make a girl walk to her job all alone, but if you insist I'll walk home on my own for today." He smirked at me. "See you tomorrow, Kishinuma."

Inumaru walked away and I watched him go down the hallway… in the opposite direction of the exit. Where was he going?…

I felt a hand tug at my jacket sleeve and I turned to see the glasses girl… Saenoki, examining me.

"I can't believe you actually befriended him of all people, but I suppose there are worse acquantainces." She adjusted her glasses. "I'm Naho Saenoki, I sit in front of you."

I nodded, not sure what to say to that. "Uh, yeah."

Saenoki raised an eyebrow. "Letting the teacher's introduction stand?"

"Oh, uh… I'm Kishinuma." I tapped my new ID tag with the name "Yoshiki Kishinuma" printed on it.

Saenoki nodded and turned to look behind her. "It seems my friend Sayaka Ooue took the opportunity to get away from Inumaru as quickly as she could, so we might as well walk together for a bit."

I hesitated for a moment, then shrugged. "Alright." I looked back in the direction Inumaru went. "What's their deal, anyway? I saw Ooue hit him earlier this morning."

Saenoki sighed and shook her head. "They live next to each other and were childhood friends. I think they have different ideas on what that means now."

I nodded slowly, getting the picture a bit better now. After I processed the new information I motioned for the exit. "Let's get going. Lead the way."


	2. Chapter 2

I led Kishinuma out of the school building and we walked down to the street. I texted Sayaka, asking her to let me know if she got to her recording session safely. I didn't understand why she was so opposed to walking there with Inumaru, but if she was going alone she might as well have someone keeping track of her.

Realizing that Kishinuma had no interest in starting the conversation, I started asking things that came to mind. "What made you transfer here? Did your family move for work?"

Kishinuma shook his head. "I had some… difficulties at my last school. I actually just moved to this town yesterday to go to school here."

I barely suppressed a sigh. His hesitation to talk about what caused him to leave his old school was not encouraging. I'd bet he got expelled and couldn't find a decent job without a high school diploma and decided to enroll somewhere else. He did look like a delinquent. If he spent half as much time studying as he spent on his bleach-white hair he probably wouldn't have gotten into any trouble.

"So you're still settling in, then?" I asked to fill the silence. Of course he was. He got here just yesterday. But I didn't want to just walk in silence with some transfer student I barely knew.

Kishinuma nodded. "Yeah. I'll need to unpack my things when I get home. Then I'll probably need to find a job to pay the rent for my apartment before I run out of money."

I looked over at him. I suppose I could have assumed he wasn't living with his family, but I would have thought they'd offer to help with the rent. "Are you living alone? Is your family not helping you pay rent?"

He snorted. "My parents aren't exactly proud of me. They probably wouldn't miss me if I fell into a gutter. And my younger sister isn't going to be paying for me anytime soon."

I rapidly realized that my assumption that Kishinuma was a delinquent was being proved accurate. It was a small miracle that he got back into school at all, with tuition prices these days. Part of me wanted to just turn off, tell Kishinuma my place was in a different direction, and part ways. I sighed as I realized I couldn't be that cold to a transfer student I'd offered to keep out of trouble, even if I had been sarcastic when I said it.

"I could give you a part-time job, actually." I watched Kishinuma's face as I told him, waiting for the reaction. He seemed a little surprised.

"Does your family run a business or something?"

I shook my head. "Personally, I'm a novelist and medium. My mentor is a novelist as well. I had something else in mind."

Kishinuma's eyes widened a bit when he heard my profession and he looked away. "Such as?…"

"You'll probably notice really soon that I don't actually attend classes often." I paused to wait for his reaction and got a confused glance. "My work keeps me busy, so the school lets me do most of my work from home. At midterms and the end of a term I'll turn in my work to be graded."

Kishinuma scratched his head. "So what does this have to do with a job?…"

"The school lets me do the work, but it doesn't provide me with lecture notes from the teachers. I'd be willing to pay you to take notes for me during classes and bring them to me so I can use that when I finish the work."

"Uh… is that legal?" Kishinuma rubbed the back of his neck.

"I don't believe there's any law against a student giving someone who's essentially homeschooled notes from a class lecture." Seeing Kishinuma wasn't very convinced, I continued justifying the arrangement. "You're going to be in classes anyway, so you can just make a copy of your own notes and give them to me at the end of each week. As a bestselling novelist, I'll be able to offer a reasonable price."

I was taking a bit of a risk by assuming Kishinuma would actually attend classes, with what I knew of him so far. But if he agreed, maybe my little "job" could help keep him in school and out of trouble. I looked straight ahead while Kishinuma pondered.

"Alright, I'll do it." He sighed. "You might want to adjust your offer once you see what my notes look like, though."

"Anything would help, really." I lied. I could easily just look up the information online, as I'd done last year. "We'll settle on a price once you provide the notes if you're worried about quality."

Kishinuma nodded. We both walked in silence for a bit after that. After a few minutes Kishinuma noted that his place was down a different street and we parted ways. I sighed as he left. It was starting to hit me that I'd be seeing more of Kishinuma if he was bringing me notes. I hoped I wouldn't regret reaching out to him.

—

I tried to put Kishinuma out of my mind as I opened the door to my home and walked in. "Kibiki! I'm back from school!"

I sighed deeply as Taguchi peeked around a corner. "Hey, Naho! Mr. Kibiki's out asking about something that came up earlier. He told me to watch the place until you got back."

Trying not to snap in annoyance, I took a breath and looked over at Taguchi. "Well, I'm back. Why don't you go slack off somewhere else for a bit?"

Taguchi nodded and disappeared behind the corner again. After a moment he came back with a bag slung over his back. "Later, Naho. Tell Mr. Kibiki I left the tapes he wanted on his bookshelf if he doesn't find them himself."

"I'll be sure to let him know." I opened the front door and motioned for him to leave. "Out you go."

Taguchi nodded to me and walked out. I shut the door behind him and locked it for good measure. Once I was sure he hadn't left something behind and on his way back, I headed to my room and dumped my schoolbag into a dark corner. I started sorting through a pile of book drafts and research notes, but I didn't really feel into doing anything.

After a few more minutes of vainly trying to be productive, I gave up and flopped onto my bed. I realized I was more tired than I thought and closed my eyes to get some rest.

—

I woke with a start as I heard the doorbell ring. I remembered that I had locked the front door when Taguchi left and that Kibiki might have expected the door to be unlocked and not brought his key. I rolled out of my bed and readjusted my glasses, wishing I hadn't slept with them on. I hurried to the front door and opened it to see Kibiki fumbling for his key.

"Ah, I thought perhaps Taguchi had something to do and you were out for the evening." He smiled at me, forcing me to suppress an embarrassed chuckle.

"Sorry, I fell asleep." I ran a hand through my hair, hoping it didn't look too messy. Hoping to change the subject, I decided to ask about what Taguchi had mentioned. "So, did you find something interesting to investigate?"

Kibiki nodded as he walked in. "I think you'll be interested in this one. Just let me put my things away and put on some tea."

I agreed and closed the door for Kibiki, wiping fatigue from my eyes as I did so. I waited for Kibiki in the sitting room, wondering what he could have been asking around about.

A little bit later Kibiki walked in with two cups of tea, one of which he handed to me. "It's rather cold for spring. I wonder if it's a sign of bad weather or something less natural."

"Probably just bad weather. I'd have sensed anything threatening enough to change the climate." I sipped my tea, glad I had something to do to wake myself up after my nap.

Kibiki nodded and pulled a clump of papers from the fold of his yukata and laid it on the table between us. "Read these."

I pulled the papers closer and started leafing through them. A few of them were newspaper clippings or police reports, but some looked like internet printouts.

"Let's see… 'Boy found in alley with no memories,' 'Disappearances from reportedly haunted apartment building…'"

Kibiki sipped at his tea and nodded at the papers. "Look at the information about the victims."

I looked more closely at the information provided about the victims of the cases and noticed most of them were people who went to or taught at my school. Most of the disappearances occurred at the beginning of the last term, and almost all of the victims were found except for a teacher.

"You think someone has been targetting people from Paulownia Academy?" I looked up at Kibiki for an answer.

"It could be a coincidence." He took a sip of tea. "But I think it's worth investigating."

I nodded slowly. "Yeah… most of the disappearances happened at the start of the last term, so this would be the time for it to start again if the culprit is targeting the school."

"The police haven't come up with any leads on the disappearances. Even the victims who've regained their memories don't know what happened."

I nodded again. "So we might have either a very careful culprit… or a supernatural one. Especially if the culprit can supress the memories of the victims." I frowned, noting a concussion could cause memory loss as well. "Were any of the victims injured? Specifically, any head injuries?"

Kibiki indicated the papers. "I believe it says in one of those that none of the victims had any sign of injury and there was no trace of drugs or other chemicals in them when they were found."

"This is definately not a human culprit, then." I put the notes together into a pile. "I'll need to look into this more. My ability to sense spirits will come in handy if our information is correct."

Kibiki nodded. "I expected you'd think that. I've done everything I can on my own… the rest of this case is in your hands."

The weight of this responsibility started to settle on me after I processed what I had just taken on. "You've read up how to perform an exorcism on someone since last time, right? I'd rather not have to perform one on myself if anything goes wrong."

"I don't think you'll need my assistance there, but I have been studying exorcisms. It's also a plot point in my next book." Kibiki finished off his tea and stood up. "I need to review Taguchi's tapes before I head to sleep for the night. Did he drop them off?"

"Bookshelf." I muttered as I looked through the notes Kibiki had given me again. I heard him walk out of the room. I took a deep breath. I guess my own novel would have to wait for a bit… I had a case to investigate.


	3. Chapter 3

I stared at my notebook in disgust. Throughout the class I had tried to copy down as much information as I could, but I wasn't exactly a big note-taker. Even worse, I realized too late that I was writing everything way too small in the hopes of fitting more information on each page and now I could barely read any of what I wrote.

Over the past few days I'd been trying to make a decent collection of lecture notes to give to Saenoki, but I was starting to think I'd be better off getting a real job. I wasn't a model student to begin with, and this was just embarassing. I think even Inumaru chuckled at my scribbles when I tried to sort out some of it during lunch hour one day.

I decided to just try to copy what I could still understand to another notebook in a more legible way, and was getting started when Inumaru put down his lunch at looked over at me. "Still trying to learn something from that tome of eldritch knowledge you've got there?"

"It's not that hard to read!" I snapped back, annoyed that he was watching me copy my own notes to a new notebook.

"Oh really?" He smirked and pointed at a character that I had accidentally smudged. "What's that supposed to be, then?"

I slapped his hand away and glared at him, which caused him to hold up his hands in surrender.

"Sorry, sorry. Just kidding, after all." He pulled his notebook out of his bag and held it out to me. "How about you try looking at my notes while you copy those? Maybe you'll have a better idea what really happened that way."

Sighing, I admitted to myself that I'd be lost without some help in figuring out what I had written about. I took Inumaru's notebook and started leafing through it. The notes were detailed… surprisingly detailed. I guess he was a better student than I was?

"Thanks." I muttered. Inumaru simply nodded and went back to his lunch.

It took most of the lunch break, but I managed to make something partially readable and informative from the two sets of notes and returned Inumaru's notebook. I sighed as I realized I didn't have enough time to eat my own meager lunch and decided to save it for dinner. As I leaned down to put the food back in my bag I heard some girls a few desks over gossiping about something.

"Did you hear? That third-year Miwa went missing yesterday. No one's heard from her and her phone isn't picking up at all."

"Are you sure she's missing? It's only been a day…"

"But it's just like those cases last term! She left school one day and just disappeared… never got home, never answered her phone…"

"You're exagerrating it. Did Saenoki start asking you about those cases from last term or something? I thought that was all over—"

I turned to Inumaru and nudged him. "Hey, did something happen here last term?"

Inumaru frowned and tilted his head at me. "Like what?"

I indicated the girls a few desks over. "I just heard something about a third year supposedly going missing."

Recognition dawned on Inumaru's face. "Ah, last term we had some students and teachers go missing. I think all but one of them were found right away… They were a bit out of it for a while after they were found, though. And none of them know what happened between the time they went missing and the time they were found."

Nodding, I looked back over at the girls. "Did the police ever find anything about what could have happened?"

"Nope." Inumaru shook his head to emphasize his statement. "I think they left up a missing person notice for the teacher that was never found, but the police pretty much dropped the case due to lack of any solid leads."

The teacher walked back in a few moments later and I steeled myself for more notetaking. While I copied down the lecture my mind started to wander a bit. One of the girls said that Saenoki was interested in the disappearances last time… maybe I should tell her that someone else went missing? Or maybe I should just wait… it would be embarassing to make a fuss over it and have the person turn up the next day.

I sighed and refocused on my notetaking. If I was getting paid for this, I might as well pay attention.

—

By the end of the second week of classes, I had filled a notebook with what I hoped were useful notes on the class lectures. I made a note to myself to hand them off to Saenoki on my way home when I realized I had no idea where she lived. I pulled out my phone and scrolled through my contact list to realize I didn't have her phone number either.

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. I really should have just gotten a normal job.

I walked with my head down as I left Saturday classes. I shouldn't have wasted two weeks writing notes for someone I had just met in the vain hope I'd be paid. Saenoki probably just told me to do it so I'd stay in class, now that I think about it. She clearly hasn't had to pay rent and tuition herself before.

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted when I bumped into someone in the hallway. I was going to just shrug it off and keep walking, but the person I'd bumped into turned out to be Inumaru, who smiled at me when he recognized me.

"Yo! Why the long face?"

I sighed. "I was supposed to hand off some notes to Saenoki, but I have no idea how to contact her."

Inumaru smirked. "I have an idea!" He whipped out his cellphone and dialed in a number as if he had memorized it. After a few rings someone picked up and he began to talk.

"Hello, my Sayaka. I have a que— oh…" Inumaru looked up from the phone. "She hung up on me."

I shook my head and sighed again. "Give me Saya— er, Ooue's number and I'll send a text asking her what Naho's number is."

Inumaru rattled off the number faster than I could type, so it took a few tries to get it right but I eventually got a text through to the right number. I made sure to include my name and who I was in the text so Ooue didn't think it was spam or a wrong number.

I put my phone back in my pocket and turned to Inumaru. "After what she did to you, I doubt she'll want to talk to me. But at least I can say I tri—"

A ringtone interrupted me and I pulled out my phone. The number I had just texted was calling me. I picked up and held the phone to my ear.

"Kishinuma, did Inumaru give you my number?"

"Er… yeah…"

"Grrrrrrr! I can't believe him! Can you deck him for me?"

"Uhh…" I looked at Inumaru, who seemed blissfully ignorant of what "his Sayaka" wanted me to do to him.

Ooue sighed heavily. "Nevermind. I'll… text you Naho's number. Just don't send her anything weird, okay?"

"I can promise not to do anything… weird."

Ooue suddenly hung up and within seconds I had a new text with what I hoped was Saenoki's number. I entered it into my contacts list and nodded at Inumaru.

"Thanks. I need to get going now."

Inumaru nodded back. "See you Monday, Kishinuma."

I walked down the hallway as I composed a text for Saenoki asking her where I should hand off the notes. I felt like there was something else I wanted to say, but I couldn't recall what it was. I decided to just send the text anyway and hit the enter button. I pocketed my phone and hoped that Saenoki would get the message. If she didn't pay me soon I'd need to find some other way to make money before my rent was due…


	4. Chapter 4

I sighed and laid down in my bed as soon as I got back home. I had gone to school during lunch break several days this past week to interview the students who went missing last term, but I didn't learn anything the police didn't know. It was like they all just passed out, vanished, and eventually reappeared.

I took off my glasses and rubbed my forehead, hoping the stress and disappointment I felt didn't give me a headache. I sighed and reached for my phone, thinking of seeing if Sayaka was open to go to a cafe or something. I really needed some time to relax…

Picking up the phone, I noticed I had new messages. One was from a number I didn't recognize, so I ignored it. I opened a message from Sayaka and read it through. I nearly hurt myself from sitting up in surprise when I read that she had given Kishinuma my number. I had completely forgotten about my deal with him… I didn't give him an address, a phone number or even an email.

Checking the message from the unknown sender, I confirmed it was from Kishinuma and that he was wondering when and where he should give me the notes he took for me. I added him to my contacts and laid back down. I really didn't want to do much of anything today. But he needed the money to pay his rent and I couldn't very well tell him I didn't need his notes after promising to pay him.

Coming to a decision, I texted him a location near the cafe I wanted to visit and a time and asked if he could make it. I sat on my bed waiting for a reply, and got one much more quickly than I expected. Confirming the appointment, I gathered my things and told Kibiki I was heading out.

—

I waited at the spot I told Kishinuma to meet me and fiddled with my phone while I waited. Part of me realized I could be using this time to think about the disappearance case more, but I was tired of the lack of leads and needed a break. I think I actually smiled when I saw Kishinuma walking towards me with his school bag. I waved him over.

"Glad you could make it on such short notice."

Kishinuma shrugged. "You're the boss, so if I want to get paid I'd need to make time."

I snickered a bit at that. He had a point. I motioned for him to follow me. "I wanted to go to a cafe nearby, so we'll discuss things there."

Without another word Kishinuma fell into step slighty behind me. When we reached the cafe I made sure we got seats in a corner of the room. It wasn't a very busy establishment, but I still didn't want too many distractions today.

I ordered a drink Sayaka had suggested last time we were here together… some sort of strawberry thing with a name I couldn't say right. Kishinuma ordered nothing, as I expected. He was here to get his money, not get fancy food or drinks. While I waited for my drink Kishinuma pulled out a notebook and laid it on the table between us.

"It's not the best… I'll rewrite it if it's too hard to read the handwriting."

Curious, I pulled the notebook closer and flipped it open to a random page. The handwriting clearly had some effort put into it… not perfect, of course, but still better than what I'd be able to manage during class. I got the feeling this wasn't the first draft of the notes.

"It should be fine. I'll ask for clarification if I need any." I flipped through a few more pages and noted the quality of the handwriting was consistant, and there was a lot of information written on each page. Kishinuma clearly took care in making this notebook for me.

Kishinuma nodded slowly, not responding. A waiter came by and gave me my drink, so I closed the notebook and moved it to the side.

After the waiter had left and I started on my drink I looked up at Kishinuma. "How much are you paying for rent, roughly? I don't want to give you too little to live on."

Kishinuma scratched his head. "Uh, one moment. I wrote it down somewhere…"

He shuffled around his bag, giving me time to take another sip of my drink. He produced a few papers and slid one over to me. I looked over the address and rent and noted the cheap price. He must really be pressed for money to settle for so little.

"That place must be pretty run-down to go as cheap as this."

"That's what I thought when I moved here…" Kishinuma took the paper back and frowned. "It's actually a pretty nice place. The landlord said something about the apartment being haunted or something like that. It's probably just in a bad neighborhood or something, but I'll bet the landlord thought a ghost story would sound better."

I raised an eyebrow at Kishinuma, letting the straw I was sipping from slip from my mouth. "Haunted? I don't remember any reports of supernatural activity in your neighborhood."

"Heh. Probably just a silly rumor, then."

I smiled. Maybe I could learn something interesting today rather than deal with a case with no leads. "Maybe it is just a rumor, but maybe I could check it out? I have some knowledge of spirits, so I could tell if your place is haunted or not."

Kishinuma turned away from me and I think I saw a bit of a blush in his cheeks. I realized I just asked to visit the home of a guy I'd met twice. It was a little late to backpedal on my offer now, though. I really need to make sure Kishinuma doesn't take the things I do the wrong way…

"Err… if you'd like. I'm not busy or anything." He seemed to compose himself and turned back to me. "Um… have we decided on a price yet?…"

I remembered the notebook and opened up my wallet to see how much money I had with me. I made sure to withdraw some cash on the way over, so I was able to give Kishinuma enough to pay for his rent and some groceries for the month. I wasn't sure if it was enough or too much, but Kishinuma seemed to be fine with the amount I gave him.

With our business out of the way, I reminded Kishinuma to keep up the note-taking and finished my drink so we could check out his apartment. The waiter winked at me as we left, and I got the sinking feeling he thought Kishinuma and I were a couple. I sighed and tried to put that out of my mind as I followed Kishinuma home.

—

"Here we are." Kishinuma opened the door to his apartment and motioned for me to go in first. Once inside, I felt myself agreeing with Kishinuma's assessment: this place was much better than the price tag would suggest. It actually seemed nicer than what I expected to be living in if I moved out of Kibiki's home.

Kishinuma led me around the apartment as if he were giving a tour, and I strained my senses to try to detect any spirits in the building. I knew the place was clean long before Kishinuma turned and admitted there was no place left to check.

"It seems like you were right… that ghost story about this place was just a rumor. I don't think a spirit has ever been here, from what I could sense."

"Ah, right… you're a medium." Kishinuma nodded. "So… nothing?"

"Nothing." I shrugged. "Your landlord probably was just making things up to convince you this was a good place to live."

"I'd think that too, but he seemed to almost expect me to leave when he told me this place was haunted… well, supposedly haunted."

I rubbed the back of my neck. That seemed like a strange way to market an apartment, especially if it wasn't in use for some time. "What's the name of your landlord? He seems like a strange person."

Kishinuma lowered his head in thought for a moment. "Takeshi Saito, I think it was. We haven't talked much since he showed me in."

Takeshi… Saito… the name felt familiar, but I couldn't place it. "Well, you can reassure him this place isn't haunted the next time you get a chance to talk to him. Unless you're worried he'll raise the rent if you say that…"

Kishinuma chuckled uncomfortably. "I'll have to think about it… you might have a point about the rent thing."

I turned a bit and motioned to the door. "I'd better be heading home. Keep up the good work, Kishinuma. Let me know if you have any concerns about payment. You have my number if you need it." I remembered how I never told him my number myself and decided to apologize. "Err… sorry to put you through the trouble of going through Sayaka. I was too occupied with other things to make sure you could contact me."

"Well, we should be fine now, I think." Kishinuma moved to the door and opened it for me. "Stay safe on your way home. …Do you want me to walk you part of the way?"

I remembered the wink the waiter gave me at the cafe and shook my head. "I'll be fine on my own. See you later, Kishinuma."

I walked outside and down to the street. I focused my senses one last time and felt no indication any spirits were nearby. Sighing, I started on my way back home. It seemed like my life was full of dead ends these days.


	5. Chapter 5

A few days passed after Saenoki visited my apartment and told me it wasn't haunted. I decided not to mention it to Saito… I couldn't risk him raising the rent when I barely had enough to pay it as things were. I probably should have felt bad about keeping that information to myself, but if Saito was a superstitious person he probably just latched onto the rumor without considering it seriously. Then again, I'd probably not have taken the situation seriously if I hadn't known a medium, so I guess I couldn't blame him.

The rest of the week passed by uneventfully and I noted that my first payment for the rent was due by Sunday. I decided I'd just get it over with after classes on Saturday so I'd have Sunday entirely to myself. As much as I could call it that, since I'd probably spend the day re-writing the notes for Naho…

I was packing up to leave after the last class when Inumaru tapped me on the shoulder. "Hey, Kishinuma. You busy today?"

"Not… really…" I picked up my bag and turned toward him. "I have to meet with my landlord later, but I don't have an appointment or anything."

Inumaru smiled at me. "You should come see this movie with me, then!" He pulled out his phone and showed me and advertisement for some movie featuring teenage girls in strange outfits. He didn't seem fazed when I stared at him. "Trust me, you'll like it."

I started to shake my head. "I'm not so sure."

"C'mon, I'll pay for snacks." He winked at me. "I'll also let you borrow my notes to copy from if you still need some help there…"

I sighed and shook my head. "Alright, alright. I'd better not regret this." I pointed at the advertisement.

"Like I said, you're going to enjoy it." Inumaru winked at me. He pocketed his phone and we walked together on the way out of school.

When we left the school building Inumaru scratched his head and looked at me. "By the way, did you hear that a student was found in an alleyway a few days ago? I think it was a third year… Miwa? They hospitalized her, but she's not actually hurt or anything."

I frowned and looked over at Inumaru. "Why is she at the hospital, then?"

He scratched his head again. "I think there was a rumor that she lost her memory. But I'm not sure if that's true or not."

I remembered what the gossiping girls and Inumaru had said last week about the disappearances last term. The people who went missing then had also lost their memories… And I think one of the girls said Saenoki was asking about the cases.

I flipped out my phone and started a text to Saenoki, hoping she would appreciate a heads-up about this Miwa girl. Inumaru raised an eyebrow at me. "Who're you texting?"

"Saenoki." I finished the message and sent it. "Thought she might be interested in the disappearances."

"She'll probably end up writing a novel about these disappearances once it all settles down. Sometimes I wish I could do stuff like that." Inumaru chuckled. "Anyway, let me tell you about the movie we're going to see…"

—

I adjusted my glasses as I waited at the receptionist's desk of the hospital. The receptionist looked at me and back to his computer before sighing. "Looks like we're allowed to give you clearance, but we'd prefer an advance warning before some kid decides to play detective."

I held in the comments I wanted to make to the receptionist and instead just accepted the visitor's badge. I walked down the hallway and checked a map to figure out which room I was headed to.

When I had recieved the text from Kishinuma I was a bit surprised that he thought to notify me about Aiko, but since I had no other leads on this investigation I gladly accepted his help. It only took me about an hour to get to the hospital and learn where Aiko was staying.

I took a deep breath before entering Aiko's recovery room. From the sound of things she wouldn't recognize me, but since we weren't on good terms I had to be on my guard. I walked over to her and sat in a chair next to her bed. She turned to look at me with blank eyes as I sat down.

"Do we… know each other?…"

"…Yes. You could say that." I adjusted my glasses and prepared a notebook.

"Are we… friends?…"

I didn't want to antagonize Aiko when she was in this state, but I wasn't sure if I could call her a friend. So I decided to change the subject and hope she didn't notice my lack of an answer. "I heard something happened to you, so I came here to check on you. Do you remember anything about what happened?"

Aiko's eyes seemed to unfocus for a moment and she shook her head. "I… don't know…"

"Nothing?" I sighed. This was going to be a waste of time.

Aiko closed her eyes. I thought she was going to tell me to leave or something when she suddenly started convulsing.

"You aren't Mr. Saito! You aren't Mr. Saito!. Get away from me, you creep! Get away!"

I stood up and hit the nurse call button next to Aiko's bed. If she was having a seizure of some kind, she'd need medical attention.

Within minutes a nurse had come in and sedated Aiko. He looked at me and frowned. "What happened?"

I shrugged. "I tried to ask her about what happened before she disappeared, but suddenly she started shouting at me."

The nurse shook his head at me. "She's going to be out for a while. Perhaps you should come another time."

I nodded slowly and walked out of the recovery room. I returned my visitor's pass and left the hospital with my head lowered.

I tried to go over Aiko's words, hoping I could extract some meaning from them. I started leafing through my notes as I did so, and noticed something. The man that wasn't found from January's cases… his name was Takeshi Saito. He was a teacher at my school, so I recognized the name.

What could this mean?…

I sat on a park bench and started going over the possibilities in my mind. If the culprit was a spirit or otherwise supernatural as I suspected, it's possible that Aiko's rant could mean that she had been approached by Mr. Saito. He would have been possessed by the culprit spirit months ago, which would explain why she said the man wasn't Mr. Saito.

I felt like I'd heard that name recently somewhere else, and I strained my mind to remember. If I could find any trace of Mr. Saito, I'd have a lead.

I heard my phone chime, signalling a new message. I looked over a funny picture that Sayaka just sent me and started to go through my text history. Upon seeing Kishinuma's text I remembered where I heard the name before… Kishinuma told me last week that his landlord's name was Takeshi Saito.

An apartment landlord with the name of a missing teacher, owning a building in a sketchy neighborhood, claiming his best apartment is cheap because of a ghost story…

That was too much to be a coincidence, wasn't it?

I stood up and dialed in Kishinuma's number on my phone. He didn't pick up, so I tried again. After the fourth try I got worried. After the fifth I decided I'd head to his apartment and check on him. Even if my leap in logic was wrong, I had to warn him to be careful.

—

"Bet you cried, didn't you?" Inumaru teased me, prodding me with his elbow as we left the theater.

"As if." I barked back, forcing myself not to sniffle.

"I'm not going to tell anyone if you did." Inumaru chuckled. "Anyway, I told you it was going to be good. And you didn't have to pay a thing, so you can't really complain!"

I sighed. "You have a point about that part, at least."

Inumaru checked his phone. "I'd better be heading home. See you in class on Monday, Kishinuma!"

I waved goodbye to Inumaru and started heading home. I wondered if Saenoki got my message about Miwa, but put that out of my mind when I remembered I had to pay my rent. I made sure I had the money and decided to take care of that before I went back to my apartment.

Once I got to Saito's office I knocked on the door. There was no answer, but the door seemed to be open because it moved a bit when I touched it. I pushed it open further and saw that the lights were out inside. Since the sun was going down, I thought Saito would have his lights on. Does that mean he's not here?…

I was about to turn and leave when I heard Saito's voice coming from the back of the office.

"Come on in! I'll be with you in a moment…"

I hesitated, but I stepped in and moved the door mostly closed. A window caught some of the dying light of the sun, but otherwise the room was dark.

"Why are the lights off?…"

"I was replacing my lights and one of them broke. I was packing up to leave, so I decided to fix it tomorrow." I heard some shuffling from a back corner. "Hey, mind helping me with this?"

I put my bag down and approached the corner. A figure came into view.

I took a step back once I got a better look.

Seated against the far wall… was a rotted corpse that wore Saito's clothing.

"I'm glad… you decided to stay here… Yoshiki…"


	6. Chapter 6

I hurried over to Kishinuma's apartment as quickly as I could, continuing to call his phone as I went. The sun was setting as I got to the building and climbed the stairs to Kishinuma's floor. I knocked at the door to his apartment as soon as I reached it. After a few minutes I knocked again. He must have not been home.

I tried calling his phone again and continued to get no response. I took a deep breath. I was probably just overreacting. It's entirely possible this was a false lead. Kishinuma might have left his phone off and gone to buy groceries. I was getting all worked up over nothing.

I shuddered. I suddenly felt a malevolent force nearby. It was a powerful feeling… definately a spirit, and not one that felt it needed to hide anything. I shook off my surprise and focused my senses.

Following the feeling of the spirit's energy, I walked down the stairwell and over to what looked like an office. I felt a stabbing pain in my chest as I touched the door handle and stepped backward. Whatever was in there knew well enough to keep the door sealed.

Knowing this was a real spirit and not just a false lead, I began searching for another way into the office. I found a window on the side of the building, but it was clouded over with a murky black substance on the inside, keeping me from seeing anything.

Looking around, I noticed there was a dumpster in the side alley next to the apartment building. I ran over and flung open the lid, hoping to find something I could use to break the window. A horrible smell wafted out of the container, forcing me to step back a bit.

"Calm down, Naho. It's just trash." I stepped closer and started shifting around in the garbage until I found a metal rod that seemed to have once been part of a bike. I pulled it out and returned to the window. After making a few practice swings to get a feel for the weight of the rod, I smashed the window in.

A wave of psychic energy flew out of the window as it shattered. I ducked and covered my head, feeling loose pieces of glass fly past me. Once I felt the spirit's rebuke subside, I stood up and looked inside the window.

Inside the dark office there were two bodies. One was the rotten remains of a middle-aged man. The other was the convulsing form of Kishinuma.

"Kishinuma!" I lifted myself into the window and dug into my pockets, hoping I had a charm to dispell the spirit with.

The air became thicker as I approached Kishinuma. He seemed to be in pain, but he was fighting the spirit trying to possess him. I grabbed him by the shoulder and tried to prevent him from squirming, but he kicked out and nearly hit me in response.

I ran through my pockets again, realizing I wasn't prepared for this situation. If the spirit was attacking me I might be able to fight it off, but I couldn't do anything for Kishinuma…

Anxiety erasing my better judgement, I grabbed Kishinuma by his shoulders and stared him in the eyes. "Let him go! I'm a much more appealing vessel, aren't I?"

Kishinuma's stuggle weakened and he closed his eyes. He took a few deep breaths and his face regained some color. He sighed deeply and opened his eyes to stare at me. "Sae… noki?… Wha—?"

I grit my teeth. The spirit had taken my bait, which meant it would attack me any moment now…

A searing pain in my head caused me to cry out in fear. A voice began to echo in my head, amplifying the pain each time I heard it. I couldn't even make out the words through the pain…

—

Just as suddenly as she had appeared, Saenoki cried out in pain and slumped over, clutching her head. I felt myself starting to panic. I had no idea what to do here. Whatever… ghosty… thing that was in Saito was attacking Saenoki now, and I had no way to help.

I pulled out my phone and saw that I had a large number of missed calls from Saenoki. I closed the notification and started going through my contacts, wondering if I could call anyone to help…

Suddenly, the phone was shoved out of my hand and Saenoki was on top of me, her teeth bared. "Whoooo are you caaaaalling, Kishinuuuma?~"

Even in the dim light of the office I could see that Saenoki's eyes had become dull like those of a dead fish. Saliva was dripping out of her mouth and onto my shirt and she moved her face closer with each breath.

"You… seem really tasty…"

I shoved Saenoki back, rolling out from under her. I stood up as she was regaining her balance and dodged out of the way as she tried to lunge at me. With a growl, she jumped forward and bit my shoulder. As soon as she latched on, she bit down again, hard.

I cried out in pain and tried to push her off again. She held on tightly to my shoulder with her teeth. In frustration, I punched her in the side of the face. She let go and backed away in surprise. Still angry, I punched her again and she dropped to the floor.

I took a few deep breaths and massaged my shoulder. It took me a minute to remember that I was supposed to be helping Saenoki. I knelt next to her and rolled her over so I could check if she was okay.

The first thing I noticed was the cracked lenses in her glasses. I cursed under my breath and flung them aside so the glass wouldn't get in Saenoki's eyes. I checked for a pulse and noted she was still breathing and her heart was still beating. Just unconscious, then.

Turning around, I reached for my phone and ran through my contacts list. I found Ooue's number and decided she would be the best to ask about what to do.

After a few rings, Ooue picked up and exhaustedly greeted me.

"Hey, Kishinuma… Inumaru didn't put you up to this, did he?…"

"Ooue, I need your help." I looked down at Saenoki's unconscious form. "Saenoki's been attacked by a spirit. I've—"

"What?" Ooue cried out. "What was she doing?!"

"Ooue!" I shouted into the phone. "I need to know what to do. Is there someone I can take her to?"

"I… I…"

I heard irregular breathing on the other end. I tucked the phone in my good shoulder and lifted Saenoki into my arms.

"You still there, Ooue?"

"T-try her mentor, Mr. Kibiki! She lives with him! He'll know what to do!"

"I need you to give me an address and directions, alright? Don't hyperventilate on me."

I walked out of the office with Saenoki in my arms and listened closely to Ooue's instructions. I began to make my way toward the address I was given as soon as I had an idea where to go.

With each step, I started to worry that Saenoki might wake up and try to attack me again. I didn't know much about ghosts, but she clearly wasn't in her right mind when she tried to bite me. I couldn't let that happen where anyone might see it…

I was almost at Kibiki's home when I heard approaching footsteps. I sighed. If someone saw me carrying Saenoki, I'd have to come up with an excuse so they wouldn't call the cops…

I turned my head slightly and saw a girl running toward me. When she got closer I realized it was Ooue.

"Is she going to be okay?!" She panted as she reached me, trying to get a look at Saenoki's face.

"I don't know, okay?! Let's get her to Kibiki and hope he's as helpful as you say he is."

Ooue nodded and led me the rest of the way to Kibiki's home. When she knocked on the door, it was answered by a man with a gentle face wearing a traditional yukata.

"Has something happened?…"

I stepped up to Kibiki and presented Saenoki. "Saenoki's been attacked by a spirit. Do you know what we can do?"

Kibiki seemed surprised with my directness, but after a moment's hesitation he nodded. "Bring her in. I'll prepare for an exorcism."

Ooue and I laid Saenoki down on a sofa and we waited for Kibiki to come back. Ooue started pacing, muttering something under her breath. After a few laps she stopped and stared at me. "What happened to your shoulder?"

I looked down at my shoulder and saw that blood was seeping from the tear in my jacket. "Just a bite. I'm sure it'll be fine."

Ooue shook her head. "Did… did Naho?…"

Before I could answer Kibiki walked back into the room and cleared some space to lay strange-looking materials on. He called me over to help him place a few things before he began chanting in some other language. I could swear the air felt thicker as he started chanting.

A few minutes of this passed, and Ooue eventually sat down in a chair near Saenoki to keep an eye on her. I stood back, trying not to get in the way of the occult stuff going on.

Suddenly, the air felt normal again. Kibiki stopped chanting and held some herb up to Saenoki's nose. She grimaced and opened her eyes. Ooue stood up and grabbed hold of Saenoki's hand.

"Naho… Are you okay?"

Saenoki groaned and sat up. "I… think so?…" She reached to her face and touched her nose in confusion.

Kibiki smiled at Saenoki. "It seems you were possessed by a spirit, but your friend brought you here in time for me to help."

Looking around, Saenoki's eyes rested on me. "Kishinuma…" She shook her head. "I'm sorry…"

I raised an eyebrow. "Sorry? For what? You saved my life, as far as I can tell."

Saenoki sighed. "I should have told you about the spirit sooner… I had enough information to know who it was possessing last week."

Ooue patted Saenoki's hand. "It's alright now though, isn't it Naho?"

Saenoki shook her head. "I should have made the connection sooner…"

I shrugged. "Well… if you don't make me pay for replacing your glasses, we can call it even."

Saenoki touched her nose again and realization dawned on her face. "I was wondering where they went. What happened to them?"

I rubbed the back of my neck and looked away. "Let's just say you'll need new lenses even if you find out where I dropped them."

Kibiki chuckled. "She has a spare set she can use until she had time to buy another pair. Don't worry."

Saenoki nodded. "I'd rather have my body if there was a choice between my body and my glasses." She looked at me. "Thanks for helping me, Kishinuma."

I shook my head. "I just carried you… Ooue told me where to go and Kibiki did the… thing."

"Still, thanks…" Saenoki rubbed her eyes with her spare hand. "I'm really tired all of a sudden…"

"You should rest, Naho." Ooue said as she rubbed Saenoki's hand.

Kibiki nodded. "That was a powerful spirit, and it seemed to be draining your energy as it possessed you. You should get some sleep."

I started to edge my way toward the door. "I'll be heading home for now… I'll let you rest…"

Kibiki turned to me and smiled. "You don't have to leave just yet. You should rest for a bit before you go home. Your face is almost as pale as Naho's."

I reached up to my face and realized it was colder than I thought it was. "Well… alright…"

Kibiki went to help Naho get to bed while Ooue and I found a place to sit. After a few minutes Kibiki came back with tea.

"Make yourselves at home." He said as he handed us the tea.

As reluctant as I was to stay here any longer than I had to, I did feel better after staying and drinking the tea Kibiki provided. An hour passed with Ooue, Kibiki, and I having small talk as I finished my tea.

Eventually I told Kibiki I should be heading home and he showed me to the door. I didn't really get the warm smile he gave me as he said goodbye, so I tried to forget about it.

On my way home I vaguely wondered who I'd be paying my rent to from now on…


	7. Chapter 7

The next month or so ended up being pretty uneventful compared to those first few weeks after I transferred to Paulownia Academy. I ended up getting a new landlord once Saito was found dead. Apparently Saito was a fraud, so the new landlord let me keep my nice apartment for the same rent for my trouble.

Saenoki started texting me a lot after the night I brought her to Kibiki's house. We didn't actually meet during the rest of the term, and instead I delivered the notes to Kibiki who gave them to Saenoki. I started wondering why Saenoki started avoiding me, since she seemed perfectly fine talking to me on the phone. I suspected she might still be recovering from the ghost thing, but I didn't know enough about the occult to be sure that was the case.

Eventually the term-ending exams before summer break came around. For the first time in my life I felt like I might actually get a half-decent grade on the exam thanks to all the notes I'd taken this term. I noticed that Saenoki and Ooue, conspiuously absent for most of the term, arrived for exams week on time.

The last day of exams came around and I breathed a sigh of relief as the tests were collected by the students with day duty. Inumaru tapped me and smiled. "We're finally free from classes for a few weeks! What are you planning on doing, Kishinuma?"

I shrugged. "I'll probably need to find a job. The rent doesn't pay itself."

Inumaru chuckled. "So independant of you! Maybe I should get a job too." He stood up. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to make sure my notes were helpful to my Sayaka."

I shook my head slowly as Inumaru walked away to find Ooue. So that's why his notes were so detailed. I should have guessed.

While I was packing my bag to leave I noticed someone was waiting next to my desk. I looked up to see Saenoki waiting for me. "Kishinuma. Are you busy this afternoon?"

"Err… no." I closed up my bag and stood up. "Did you need me for something?"

Saenoki adjusted her glasses and nodded. "I'd like you to come with me to that cafe we visited a while back. I'll treat you to something."

I rubbed the back of my neck and nodded. "Alright. What's the occasion?"

"Is summer break not enough of an excuse?" Saenoki sniffed. She seemed more amused than annoyed, though.

"You have a point there…" I nodded for her to lead the way and followed her out.

I expected the walk to the cafe to be a quiet one, but Saenoki started talking about exam questions and we started a conversation about how we felt we did on them. Saenoki seemed pleased about her performance, and I let slip that I felt good about my exams for the first time in years.

At the cafe, Saenoki ordered the same strawberry drink she had the last time. After looking over the menu I decided to get the same thing just to avoid looking like an idiot when it came to this kind of place.

After some time had passed, Saenoki put down her drink and looked at me. "I heard you're looking for work over the summer break?"

I nodded. "Have to pay off the rent somehow."

Saenoki adjusted her glasses. "I might have something you can do. How much do you know about cameras?"

"Not very much…" I replied, looking down into my drink.

"Well, I'm sure you could learn it pretty quickly. My mentor's cameraman is a total slacker and still knows how to do his job." Saenoki smirked as if she were making an inside joke.

"So… you want me to be your cameraman?"

Saenoki nodded. "You'd be handy to have around when I investigate haunted locations."

Realizing the extra duty of being Saenoki's backup in case of problems, I nodded. "I think I see what you mean."

Smiling, Saenoki slid a card toward me. "You already have some of it, but here's my contact information. We should dicuss this in more detail after you've had a chance to think about it."

I nodded and took the card. "I'll consider it. Thanks, Saenoki."

Saenoki stood up and moved closer to me. "You can just call me Naho if you'd like."

Before I could respond she pressed her lips against my cheek. I barely registered the kiss before she drew away and smiled at me.

"Keep me in mind, Yoshiki."

I sat in my seat, stunned, as Naho walked out of the cafe. I looked down at the card and tucked it safely into my pocket. I resolved to call Naho the next day and accept her job offer.


End file.
